A Confederate Army division under Brigadier General John S. Bowen prepared defenses—Forts Wade and Cobun—at Grand Gulf, Mississippi, south of Vicksburg.

Grant's command moved inland, and after defeating Confederate forces in the Battle of Champion Hill on May 16, began the Siege of Vicksburg two days later.

Early in the American Civil War, the Union military leadership developed the Anaconda Plan, which was a strategy to defeat the Confederate States of America.

[1] Much of the Mississippi Valley fell under Union control in early 1862 after the capture of New Orleans, Louisiana, and several land victories.

[2] The strategically important city of Vicksburg, Mississippi was still in Confederate hands, serving as a strong defensive position that commanded the river and prevented the Union from separating the two parts of the Confederacy.

[6][7] In late November, about 40,000 Union infantry commanded by Major General Ulysses S. Grant began moving south towards Vicksburg from a starting point in Tennessee.

Meanwhile, another arm of the expedition under the command of Major General William T. Sherman left Memphis, Tennessee, on the same day as the Holly Springs Raid and traveled down the Mississippi River.

After diverting up the Yazoo River, Sherman's men began skirmishing with Confederate soldiers defending a line of hills above the Chickasaw Bayou.

A Union attack on December 29 was defeated decisively at the Battle of Chickasaw Bayou, and Sherman's men withdrew on January 1, 1863.

An assault across the river risked heavy casualties, and a withdrawal to Memphis could be politically disastrous if the public perceived such a movement as a retreat.

[10] The advance along the west bank of the Mississippi began on March 29, and was spearheaded by Major General John A. McClernand's troops.

[13] Confederate regional commander John C. Pemberton fell for the Union decoys (especially Grierson's Raid), and lost touch with the true tactical situation, believing Grant was withdrawing.

[15] In early March 1863, the Confederates decided to rebuild fortifications at Grand Gulf, and the brigade of Brigadier General John S. Bowen was transferred there.

[19] The Union Navy forces cooperating with Grant, which were commanded by David Dixon Porter and known as the Mississippi Squadron, were positioned north of Vicksburg, but there was a need for vessels to move south for operations near Port Hudson, Louisiana,[20][21] as well as to provide a stronger protecting force for the transports that would ferry troops in Grant's planned crossing of the Mississippi River.

[21] Beginning two hours after nightfall on April 16, Porter ran several vessels past the batteries at Vicksburg, with the loss of only a transport and a barge.

With the addition of a miscellaneous command of 800 men and a four-gun battery sent from Jackson, Mississippi, there were about 4,200 Confederate troops around Grand Gulf.

[27] Grant had some hesitations about such a feint, believing that reports of it might be misconstrued by the Union public as another Chickasaw Bayou-style defeat, but Sherman continued with the operation.

[28] Sherman's movement resulted in the Battle of Snyder's Bluff, which saw Union warships and transports loaded with infantry move up the Yazoo River on April 29, and skirmish with Confederate forces during the next two days.

[35] Porter believed the Confederates were too well-prepared for an attack against Grand Gulf to be worthwhile, and instead suggested that the army march further south, accompanied by the navy's ironclad warships to cover the movement of its transports.

[36] At 7:00 a.m. on April 29, seven Union Navy ironclads led by Porter moved down the river from Hard Times Landing towards the positions at Grand Gulf.

The naval forces also had the advantage in size of artillery: the majority of the Confederate guns were 30-pounders or smaller, as opposed to the median Union piece being a 42-pounder.

[41] After the shooting started, the 12th Arkansas Sharpshooter Battalion was moved forward from a reserve position into rifle pits near Fort Cobun.

However, Porter and Grant decided not to attempt an amphibious landing against Grand Gulf due to the strength of the Confederate position.

[45] During the action, Porter had been struck in the back of his head with a shell fragment; the painful wound caused him to use his sword as a cane.

[53][46] After the naval bombardment was unable to neutralize the Confederate position at Grand Gulf, the troops on the transports returned to dry land.

[57] Late on April 29, expecting a Union crossing of the river, Bowen sent a detachment from his command to hold Port Gibson, and the next day sent reinforcements that had arrived from Vicksburg to that place as well.

The park contains the land where forts Wade and Cobun were located, as well as an observation tower, a museum, and the remains of the old town of Grand Gulf.